Creating Private Booking Links with Restricted Calendar Access
This guide shows you how to temporarily close your calendar to public bookings while still allowing selected people to book appointments through private booking form links. This is useful during busy periods when you want to control who can schedule time with you.
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Creating Private Booking Links with Restricted Calendar AccessUse case
This approach is perfect for situations where you need to:
- Control booking access during busy periods – Limit appointments to priority clients or partners
- Provide VIP booking access – Give special access to selected customers without opening your calendar publicly
- Manage capacity temporarily – Restrict general bookings while still accepting appointments from specific sources
- Test new services – Offer booking to a limited group before public launch
How it works
You set extremely limited opening hours on your calendar (e.g., 7:00-7:20) that prevent normal booking forms from showing available times. Then you create a special booking form that overrides these restrictions with its own availability hours, giving only people with that specific link the ability to book.
Step 1: Restrict your calendar with special dates
First, make your calendar unavailable for general bookings by setting minimal opening hours.
Navigate to Calendar → Calendar settings → Special dates
Click Add special date or modify an existing date range
Set the date range for the period when you want restricted access (e.g., next week, next month)
Set opening hours to a very short window, such as 7:00 - 7:20
Why such a short time window? Most booking forms require at least 30-60 minutes for an appointment. By setting a 20-minute window, normal booking forms will show "no available times" because they cannot fit a meeting into such a short slot. This effectively closes your calendar to public bookings.
Important consideration
Make sure the time window is shorter than your typical meeting duration. If your meetings are usually 60 minutes, set the window to 20 minutes or less. This ensures regular booking forms cannot find available slots.
Step 2: Create a private booking form
Now create a special booking form that overrides the calendar restrictions with its own availability hours.
Navigate to Campaign → Campaign settings → Booking forms
Click Create new booking form (or duplicate your existing booking form to save time)
Give it a descriptive name like "Private booking - VIP access" or "Internal booking link"
A: Configure custom availability days
In the booking form settings, find the "On days" section:
- Default setting: "Default (honors resource's available hours)"
- Change to: "Mon - Fri, 09:30 - 14:00" (or whatever hours you want to allow private bookings)
This tells the booking form to ignore the calendar's special date restrictions and use these hours instead.
B: Enable force available hours
In the booking form settings, navigate to Times → Force available hours?
- Default setting: "No" or "Only when resource is fully booked"
- Change to: "Yes, force available hours defined by booking form (if any)"
This is the critical setting that allows the booking form to override your calendar's restrictions.
How this works
When "Force available hours" is enabled, the booking form ignores special dates and business hours set in the calendar. Instead, it uses only the hours defined in the booking form's "On days" setting. This creates a separate availability schedule just for this form.
C: Configure remaining settings
Complete the rest of your booking form configuration:
- Select resources
- Set meeting duration
- Configure any custom fields needed
- Adjust appearance and messaging
Keep all other settings consistent with your normal booking form unless you have specific requirements for this private access.
D: Save and get the booking link
Click Save to create the booking form
Copy the booking form URL from the list
Share this link only with selected people you want to grant booking access
How it works together
For public booking forms:
- Calendar shows special date hours: 7:00 - 7:20
- Meeting duration: 60 minutes
- Result: No available slots (cannot fit 60-minute meeting in 20-minute window)
- Public sees: "No times available"
For private booking form:
- Booking form overrides calendar hours with: 09:30 - 14:00
- Meeting duration: 60 minutes
- Result: Shows available slots between 09:30 - 14:00
- Selected people see: Available appointment times
Testing the setup
Before sharing your private booking link, test both scenarios:
Test 1: Verify public calendar is restricted
- Open your normal booking form link
- Check that no available times are shown (or only 7:00-7:20 appears)
- Confirm the calendar appears "closed" to general bookings
Test 2: Verify private booking form works
- Open your private booking form link
- Check that available times appear during your specified hours (e.g., 09:30-14:00)
- Make a test booking to confirm it works correctly
Managing access during off-periods
When you want to prevent bookings through the private link during off-periods (without deleting the form), you can temporarily require authentication.
Open your private booking form in edit mode
Click the green "Public" button at the top
Change URL access to: "Authentication is required to open URL"
When enabled, visitors must be logged in to your Hubhus account to access the booking form. This effectively closes the booking form to external users without deleting it.
When to use this: Perfect for when you want to pause private bookings temporarily (e.g., during holidays, vacations, or other off-periods) without losing the booking form configuration. Simply toggle it back to "Public" when you're ready to accept bookings again.
Pro tip
Use URL authentication as a convenient on/off switch for your private booking link. Keep the special dates configuration in place, but control access to the booking form itself with the authentication setting.
Security considerations
Link sharing: Anyone with the private booking form URL can book appointments during the allowed hours (when the form is set to "Public"). The link itself provides the access - there's no password required.
Potential challenge: Recipients might share the link with others, or the link could be saved/bookmarked and reused later. Consider these strategies:
- Use URL authentication: Toggle "Authentication required" during off-periods to prevent bookings
- Rotate links: Create new booking forms periodically with different URLs
- Time-limited access: Only use special dates for short periods (days or weeks, not permanently)
- Monitor bookings: Review who books appointments and follow up if unauthorized bookings occur
- Communicate expectations: Let recipients know the link is personal and shouldn't be shared
Best practice
This method works best for temporary, short-term restricted access (days to weeks). For permanent VIP access or more secure booking control, consider using Private booking links with authentication or creating separate campaigns with proper access controls.
Removing restrictions when ready
When you're ready to open your calendar to public bookings again:
Return to Calendar → Calendar settings → Special dates
Delete the special date entry or restore normal business hours
Your normal booking forms will immediately show available times again
You can keep the private booking form for future use or delete it if no longer needed.
Alternative approaches
While the special dates + forced hours method works well for temporary restrictions, consider these alternatives for different scenarios:
For permanent VIP access: Use Private booking links feature which provides password protection or authentication.
For complex access rules: Create separate campaigns for different customer segments with their own booking forms and resource allocations.
For simple temporary closures: Mark yourself as unavailable or use holidays instead of special dates if you don't need any bookings during that period.
Practical use cases
Consulting during launch period: A consultant launching a new service wants beta testers only. Sets special dates for 2 weeks, shares private link with 10 selected clients for feedback.
Healthcare practitioner managing capacity: A therapist is fully booked but wants to reserve capacity for existing clients. Uses special dates with private booking form sent to current patient list.
Sales team during high-demand period: Sales team restricts new prospect meetings during end-of-quarter to focus on closing deals. Private booking form sent only to hot leads.
Event coordinator with tiered access: Event planner offers early booking access to premium members before opening to general public. Premium members get private link 1 week before public access.
Summary
Creating private booking access combines two powerful features: special dates with restricted hours and booking forms with forced available hours. By setting calendar hours too short for normal bookings (e.g., 7:00-7:20) and creating a special booking form that overrides these restrictions with its own hours (e.g., 09:30-14:00), you can effectively close your calendar to public bookings while maintaining selective access for chosen individuals. This method works best for temporary restrictions and provides a simple way to control booking access without complex authentication systems. Remember to test both the public and private booking experiences before sharing links, and consider rotating links periodically for better security.
? Common searches
private booking link • restrict booking access • selective booking • vip booking • limited access booking
? Also known as
exclusive booking • closed calendar • invite-only booking • restricted calendar • private appointments
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